The present invention relates generally to high voltage semiconductor switches and, more specifically, to an integrated high voltage capacity semiconductor switch.
With increased use of integrated circuits in high voltage environments, integrated circuits are required to have greater voltage handling capacity. Specifically, integrated circuit motor controls have been developed and, consequently, the switching circuitry must be capable of handling at one point as much as 400 volts. The ability to handle these voltages with discrete components is well-known in the prior art. There is a great need presently to develop integrated circuits which perform the function of discrete device circuits and components. It is well-known in the prior art to stack or connect in series a pair of silicon controlled rectifiers (SCR) in order to handle voltages greater than the capacity of a single SCR component. The control of these discrete SCR's is well-known and will not be discussed herein in detail. The problem lies in incorporating the stacked SCR principle into an integrated circuit.